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Bird Raises $100 Million in Series B Funding Round

Last-mile electric vehicle sharing company will help cities get cars off the road, curb traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.

Bird, an electric-scooter rental startup led by a former Uber and Lyft executive announced yesterday that it has raised $100 million in its Series B funding round.

This investment will be used to bring Bird’s first-in-the-world fleet of environmentally-friendly, shared electric scooters to 50 U.S. markets by the end of 2018 and expand its team. Back in February, Bird announced its Series A funding round of $15 million.

“Today, 40 percent of car trips are less than two miles long. Our goal is to replace as many of those trips as possible so we can to get cars off the road and curb traffic and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Travis VanderZanden, founder and CEO of Bird. “With this funding, we can move quickly to bring this vision to communities all across the country.”

Bird has taken over the streets of Southern California. The startup lets customers rent dockless electric scooters (or “Birds”) with the tap of an app and then leave them on the street when they’re done. It first launched in Santa Monica, and since expanded to neighborhoods in Los Angeles County and San Diego. Rides cost $1 per ride and 15 cents per minute. The company says it has 50,000 active users and has seen 250,000 rides on its platform.

Author

Marla is a native San Franciscan who loves to eat and travel. In 1996, she took her first trip to Beijing to train in Chinese martial arts (Wushu/Taiji), and there began her love for China. She went back to Beijing many times after that to train, and continued to learn about the culture and language. After she finished college, she decided to study abroad at Beijing University to enroll in their one year Chinese program. Once the program was over, Marla decided to stay and work in China, and lived in Beijing for three years.When Marla is not traveling, she enjoys writing poetry, and practicing bikram yoga.